I have a soft spot for the mimosa tree. One was growing in my grandfather’s yard when I was a child. My brother and I would climb its branches and use the seed pods in mud pie and “soup”. On a recent walk I took pictures of the mimosa blossom. It’s beautiful in its feathery flounce. When I took a moment to Google the tree this morning, I found out a few things:
- The tree comes from Asia, known as the Persian silk tree or the pink silk tree.
- The wood of the mimosa is brittle and prone to break. Thus the tree has a short life span.
- The tree is an invasive species from China.
- The tree attracts webworm.
- The mimosa pod (which my brother and I used in pretend play) is poisonous.


This mimosa tree was growing wild in Mississippi. I’ve also seen a few in our city park and near the bayou in a wooded area. Write a poem based on this image and put it into the comments. Please reply to 3 other writers with encouragement. Thanks for being here.
Fran Haley is leading the Open Write at Ethical ELA today. I used her prompt to create my poem.
Mimosa
evanescent blossoms
Margaret Simon, draft
perky pink feathering
flames of flower power
invasive Asian tree
reaching for the sunlight
my childhood memory